With each passing year, the path to land-restitution for Indigenous populations becomes increasingly fraught with new obstacles and opposition. The Mapuche people are no strangers to the argument that assimilation and urban migration weaken Mapuche ties and claims to ancestral lands. In Sentient Lands, Piergiorgio di Giminiani deftly explores the processes of Mapuche land reclamation in southern Chile and the intricate connections between land, identity and politics. Invaluable to this discussion is an understanding of the Mapuche sense of place, and the Mapuche societal belief that ‘places make people as much as people make places’ (p. 11). Central to Mapuche land claims is the notion of tuwün or the ‘place of origin’ (p. 13). Giminiani approaches the idea of sentient lands through the lens of Mapuche writings, Mapuche experiences with the land, and his own experiences of ‘learning to feel for the land’ (p. 12). Giminiani's approach to this research is anchored in ethnographic methodologies and skilfully incorporates archival and participatory methods. Readers will appreciate Giminiani's experiences working alongside local participants and the context that those experiences provide to the overarching theme of sentient lands.
The book is divided into two main parts; Part 1 explores the people and the land, and Part 2 unpacks the progression and mechanisms of land claims. Since the 1990s the Chilean government has framed land reconciliation as a form of payment to Indigenous people for ‘historical debt’ (pp. 34–6). Chapter 1 provides an important review of key moments of land dispossession in Mapuche and Chilean history and sets the stage for a discussion of Mapuche identity and memory. The concept of tuwün is interwoven with elements of indigeneity and selfhood. In Chapter 2 Giminiani reiterates that connections to the land are ‘best understood as an affective relation’ (p. 83). The Mapuche people draw much of their identity and indigeneity from their personal and collective experiences with, and in, the land. Chapters 3 and 4 bring into sharp focus the inherent struggles that Mapuche people face as they balance environmental values and their commitment to preserving the land with the necessary adoption of winka (non-Indigenous) agricultural practices and the pitfalls of land ownership.
In Part 2, and the remaining chapters of this book, Giminiani thoughtfully evaluates the nexus between Indigenous land claim ideologies and those created or presented by the Chilean government during the land restitution process. Giminiani asserts that the ‘governmentalization’ (p. 161) of land disputes can veer greatly from Indigenous perspectives of land ownership. This in turn creates a sort of conundrum in which Mapuche land claimants are forced to assert their claims through the use of the very legal language and property documentation that challenges their environmental values and notions of land ownership. The author aptly describes this as the ‘paradox of needing to embrace elements of colonial culture to resist assimilation’ (p. 155). What seems to be a recurring sub-theme and provides valuable context to the story is that of language. The author takes great care to include both Spanish and Mapudungun translations for key terms and concepts. As the text progresses, the linguistic variations emphasise some of the deep-rooted disconnects between the definitions of nature, ancestral lands and property ownership held by the Mapuche and the Chilean government.
Chapter 6 considers the El Panal case in Comunidad Contreras and the difficulties of using sacred sites to bolster land claims. Government officials and state actors are often slow to recognise sacred sites due to a lack of understanding or conflicting definitions. Giminiani, however, explains that misunderstandings do not always arise from ‘strategic refusals’ (p. 164) by government officials. Instead, he posits that ‘understanding by domestication’ (ibid.) occurs in which sacred sites and the sentience of the land are reduced to a form that supports political ideologies. Giminiani's concluding remarks in Chapter 7 bring into focus the implications of ancestral land claims during the Anthropocene. In various South American countries, the idea of buen vivir (living well) has inspired both Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike to adopt lifestyles that are focused on well-being and sustainability. Although the concept is often used by neoliberal governments and political leaders to distract from extractive policies, it nevertheless contributes to Indigenous narratives of ancestral land reclamation.
For scholars of Indigenous studies, this book offers a valuable template for understanding issues surrounding Indigenous and ancestral land claims. In its purest form Sentient Lands is a pointed analysis of the dual ontologies that emerge as the Mapuche people seek restitution of their ancestral lands. The depth of research and theory contained in Giminiani's writings warrants multiple readings, as one's understanding is likely to be enhanced with each additional read. Students of anthropology, history and geography will find the text challenging, but will undoubtedly develop a stronger theoretical foundation after a careful analysis of Sentient Lands. The concept of sentience in the land may be difficult to contextualise within the language of legal and political frameworks but it is critical to the discussion of Indigenous land reclamation. Giminiani explains the Mapuche people's understanding that ‘land contains within it the present and past relations that make a person unique’ (p. 203). Furthermore, as we understand our ability as humans to feel for the land, we begin to understand how the land can in turn respond towards humans.
